· LEYLA  ZANA  AND  COLLEAGUES  WILL BE RETRIED 28 MARCH.
Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Dogan and Selim Sadak, the former Members of
Parliament for the Party of Democracy (DEP), imprisoned in Ankara Central
Jail for the last 9 years, after being sentenced to 15 years in 1995, are
due to be retried on 28 March in Ankara.

The European Human Rights Court had ruled that the trial of the four MPs
was "inequitable" and the Council of Europe had demanded, in January 2003,
that Ankara review their trial. The Turkish Parliament, in the context of
measures aimed at favouring closer relations with the European Union, had
recently passed a law allowing a fresh trial for defendants whose sentences
had been condemned by the European Human Rights Court, and an Ankara  State
Security Court (DGM) decided at the end of April 2003  to follow up the
petition for a fresh trial presented by the ex-MPs' lawyers, while
rejecting the application for their release.

On 12 March, Francis Wurtz, Chairman of the United Left Group in the
European Parliament (GUE/NGL) called for an all-party delegation from the
European Parliament to the new trial. "This is a major political event in
Turkey and enable us to hope for Leyla Zana's freedom, as well as that of
other political prisoners" explained Mr. Wurtz in the name of his Group,
demanding that the European Parliament "as an institution" be represented
by a delegation "representing all the sensitivities in the European
Parliament".
 

· LEGAL OFFENSIVE AGAINST PRO-KURDISH PARTIES: HADEP BANNED,
DEHAP TARGETTED. The Turkish authorities have
taken measures to ban the country's two principle pro-Kurdish parties. On
13 March, the Turkish Constitutional Court banned the People's Democratic
Party (HADEP ­ pro-Kurdish). The Court also banned 46 leading officers of
HADEP from holding carrying out any political activity whatsoever for five
years. The President of the Constitutional Court, Mustafa Bumin, declared
that the Court had found HADEP guilty of having "helped and encouraged a
terrorist organisation" whereas HADEP had long rejected the links, which
the authorities accused it of maintaining with the PKK.

Furthermore, on the same day the Public Prosecutor attached to the
Constitutional Court, Sabih Kanadoglu, requested the Court, to ban the
Democratic People's Party (DEHAP), another pro-Kurdish party. HADEP had not
taken part in the General Election of November 2002 for fear of a ban, but
the DEHAP party, which had fused with HADEP before the elections, took
over, though without winning a single seat because of the threshold of 10%
of the total national vote.

The HADEP party, that argues in favour of a peaceful solution to the
problems of the Kurdish population, is the latest descendent of a line of
pro-Kurdish organisations that have all been successively banned in Turkey
since 1963.  Proceedings against HADEP were started in 1999 by the Public
Prosecutor of the Court of Appeals of the time, Vural Savas.

Other pro-Kurdish parties (in particular the People's Labour Party, and the
Freedom and Democracy Party) have been equally banned for "separatism". In
February 1999, a moderately pro-Kurdish party, the Masses' Democratic Party
(DKP), led by former Minister Serafettin Elci, was banned for having
"damaged Turkey's unity" and having "praised regional and ethnic
differences in its programme".

The Constitutional Court has also banned left wing parties on the grounds
of communist activities and several pro-Islamist parties for anti-secular
activity. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) at present in office in
Ankara is also an offshoot of a banned party, the Virtue Party (Fazilet),
panned in 2001.

Greece, that at present holds the presidency of the European Union,
considered that this decision by the Turkish Court would harm its
application for membership of the E.U.  This decision "will be examined by
the E.U.'s official organs, but it is certain that it will have a negative
influence on Turkey's progress towards membership" stated Panos Beglitis,
spokesman for the Greek Foreign Ministry. "It is a particularly negative
development for the normalisation of political life and the consolidation
of democratic institutions" he added. He recalled that, as "a candidate for
membership of the E.U., Turkey was under an obligation to guarantee the
normal and unimpeded functioning  of political parties".
 

·  EUROCOURT CONSIDERS TRIAL OF ABDULLAH  OCALAN UNFAIR.
On 12 March, the European Human Rights Court
ruled in favour of part of Abdullah Ocalan's petition by finding Turkey
guilty of an inequitable trial. The European Court considered, by six votes
to one (the Turkish judge) that Abdullah Ocalan's trial before the State
Security Court "had not been equitable" because of the presence of an Army
judge on the bench (he was replaced by a civilian on the last days of the
trial). On the other hand, the judges concluded  unanimously that the trial
was also inequitable because of the restrictions placed on the rights of
the defence, the accused being prevented form freely meeting with his
lawyers throughout the greater part of the trial.

Furthermore, while the European Court rejected the complaint of breach of
his right to life, since the death sentence is not longer applicable, it
did consider that Abdullah Ocalan  was the victim of "inhuman  or degrading
treatment" in so far as he had lived three years under threat of this
sentence "passed as a result of an inequitable trial". A. Ocalan had been
condemned to death for "treason" on 29 June 1999 by the Ankara State
Security Court. The death sentence, however, was commuted to life
imprisonment in October 2002, after the abolition of capital punishment in Turkey.

Recognising that, in 1999, Turkey had not ratified the clause forbidding
capital punishment in the European Convention on Human Rights, the judges
considered that it was, nevertheless, "forbidden arbitrarily to inflict
death on the grounds of a death sentence". The Court also considered Turkey
had breached the Convention, in so far as Abdullah Ocalan  had had to wait
for seven days after his arrest before being brought before a judge.

On the other hand it considered that the conditions of his arrest had been
conformity with the rule of law. Abdullah Ocalan had been kidnapped by a
Turkish commando on 15 February 1999, in Nairobi, Kenya, where he had
sought asylum, and taken to Turkey. "It has not been established beyond all
reasonable doubt, that the operation, conducted partly by Turkish and
partly by Kenyan agents, had constituted an infringement of Kenyan
sovereignty by Turkey and, consequently, of international law" the judged
considered. The Court considered that there was no "proof" that his arrest
and the conditions of his transfer "had any ill effects beyond the usual
element of humiliation inherent in every arrest and detention". It ruled
that the "general conditions" of his detention "did not reach the minimum
level of gravity needed to constitute inhuman or degrading treatment".
Similarly, the ruled the conditions of Abdullah Ocalan's detention, as the
sole detainee on the Island prison of Imrali, in the Sea of Marmara, in
conformity with Human Rights. The Court "recognises outright that the
detention of the petitioner raises extraordinary difficulties for the
Turkish authorities" both because of his dangerous character and of the
threats against his life.

The Court considered that its ruling was, in itself, an "equitable
satisfaction" for the petitioner, to whom it granted 100,000  euros for
costs and expenses.

Since Turkey was found guilty of an inequitable trial, the Ministerial
Committee of the Council of Europe, responsible for overseeing the carrying
out of the Court's rulings, should now press Ankara to give Abdullah Ocalan
an fresh trial. The ruling on Abdullah Ocalan, which  was handed down by a
bench of seven Judges, is, nevertheless liable to appeal before the higher
bench of 17 Judges, thus postponing, for at least a year, the issue of a
final ruling. Turkey has, already, indicated that it will appeal against
this decision.
 

· ERDOGAN APPOINTED  PRIME  MINISTER AGAINST BACKGROUND
 OF IRAQI CRISIS.  Some reforms to the electoral laws passed by
Parliament, in which the Justice and Development Party (AKP - Islamist) has
an overwhelming majority, enabled Recep Tayyip Erdogan to win a
bye-election in Siirt, the last formality needed to impel him into the
position of Prime Minister. His nomination by Turkish President Ahmet
Necdet Sezer on 12 March thus enabled him openly to take over the running
of a Government from which he had been excluded for four months because of
a legal ruling that he was ineligible to stand at the General Elections. He
has, nevertheless, indirectly been running the country side by side with
his right hand man, Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, who resigned on 11 March
to enable him to take his place.

"I will give the President a list of nominees for the new government as
soon as possible" stated Mr. Erdogan. "There will be a few changes in the
government" he indicated, adding, however, that they would be slight.

Mr. Erdogan has given no hint so far as to whether he would ask Parliament
for a fresh vote on the question of the deployment of American troops in
the country in preparation for an invasion of Iraq. On 1 March Parliament
had voted against such a deployment with a  three vote majority, thus
reflecting the strong feelings of the population, hostile to a war in their
back garden. Encouraged by the stand taken by the  Army, the United States
are still pursuing their unloading of military equipment, particularly at
the port of Iskenderun, while convoys of 30 to 40 articulated vehicles,
loaded with army vehicles, daily take the road to bases in the East of the country.

"Turkey is not a banana republic" had exclaimed Deniz Baykal, leader of the
principle opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP) before
placing before Parliament a "demand for an Parliamentary enquiry" to
clarify this affair. But Parliament rejected this motion, thanks to the
votes of the majority party, the AKP, who was the target of insults from
the opposition benches. "The country is transformed into a theatre for war
preparations ( ) New logistic bases are being established, ports, bases and
different facilities are being rented to foreigners" stated, for his part,
the CHP leader for whom "Parliament has never approved such activities".
According to the NTV television channel, nine bases are being set up in
Turkish Kurdistan to receive the American soldiers and their logistic
support. Many rumours talk of the crossing over into Iraqi Kurdistan not
only of Turkish but also American soldiers, dressed as civilians, riding
Turkish registered four wheels drive vehicles.

Yet the Speaker of Parliament, Bülent Arinc, a member of the Justice and
Development Party (AKP) in office, had also expressed his irritation on 9
March, by what he called the "de facto" deployment. Mr. Arinc , who has
never hidden his opposition to a military action, had suggested to the
members of Parliament that if they were "worried" they should set up
parliamentary "control mechanisms".
 
The American military preparations are also provoking tensions in the
country. At Iskenderun, for example, where some 800 American soldiers have
landed, the Turkish police have disarmed the Americans, who are preparing
to leave the port. And the press states that at Mersin, the authorities had
forbidden the unloading of a civilian ship which had arrived with military equipment.

Moreover, on 12 March the Turkish Military Police fired in the air, in
Turkish Kurdistan, to disperse demonstrators gathering in front of
Iskenderun port, which is being used to transport American military
equipment, although the United States have accepted to send two batteries
of Patriot anti-missile missiles to Turkey, thus bringing the number of
such batteries deployed in Turkey up  to five.
 

· EUROPEAN COMMISSION WARNS: CYPRUS SETBACK
WILL  BLOCK  TURKEY'S  ADMISSION  TO   EU.
The negotiations on the reunification of Cyprus prior to its admission to
the E.U. in May 2004 ended in a failure on 11 March, when UNO declared that
it was ending its efforts at mediation. The negotiations between Greek and
Turkish Cypriots, organised at The Hague under UNO auspices, were intended
to prepare for a future reunification of the divided island.
The European Commission immediately warned Turkey that its application for
membership could suffer from the failure of these negotiations. The
Commission's spokesman, Jean-Christophe Filori, declared on 11 March  that
the European Union intended to sign the treaty of membership with Cyprus on
16 April, as planned, even if, at that date, the latter is still divided
and represented solely by the Greek Cypriot government. Moreover, if no
agreement on reunification is concluded when the Commission makes its
report on the opening of negotiations on Turkey's membership, in December
2004, it would be very difficult to recommend the starting of that process.

As Mr. Filori said, accepting the opening of negotiations for membership
with Ankara, in those circumstances, would amount to putting oneself in "a
situation where a candidate  country was knocking at the door without
recognising one of our members".